A young girl spins a Hanukkah dreidel, which is a wooden top. Each of the dreidel's four sides contains a Hebrew letter. / Getty Images

Written by

The menorah has nine candles. The candles are placed and lit in a specific order each night of Hanukkah. The menorah is often placed in a window. / Getty Images

Lighting the menorah

Also called a hanukkiyah, there is a precise way to light the menorah each night of Hanukkah. The menorah has nine candles. One candle, which is offset from the others, and which is known as the shamas, is always lit first. Then the shamas is used to light the other candles. On the first night, there is only one other candle, placed on the far right side of the menorah. Each night a candle is added, from right to left, but the candles are always lit from left to right. On the first night, two traditional prayers are recited, one of which is recited only on the first night. Every other night, only the one prayer is recited.

The dreidel contains four sides, each with a Hebrew letter. The letters stand for the Hebrew words nes gadol hayah sham, a great miracle happened there.

For information about Hanukkah and about Temple Israel, visit springfieldsynagogue.org.

More

ADVERTISEMENT

The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which this year began at sunset last Sunday, is an eight-day celebration that centers around the lighting of a special candle but also involves prayers, meals and gifts.

The history of Hanukkah, also called Hag Ha-urim, the Festival of Lights, goes back more than 2,000 years. That is a young holiday by Jewish standards.

At its heart, Hanukkah (sometimes spelled Chanukah) is a festival commemorating the victory of the Maccabees over the armies of Syria in 164 B.C. and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.

Syrian Greeks, under the leadership of Antiochus IV, had been imposing their Hellenistic, or Greek, culture on the Jews.

By 167 B.C., Antiochus had defiled the Temple in Jerusalem and had banned Jews from practicing their faith.

The Maccabees, a group of Jewish fighters led by the five sons, especially Judah, of priest Mattathias, waged a three-year war that resulted in victory and the rededication of the Temple.

This history is recorded in I and II Macabees, two historical religious texts that are part of the Apocrypha. Hanukkah is one of the few Jewish holidays that is not mentioned in the Old Testament. However, Rita Sherwin, rabbi of Temple Israel near Rogersville, pointed out that it is mentioned in the New Testament in John 10:22-23.

At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the Temple in the portico of Solomon.

Perhaps the most enduring image of Hanukkah is that of the menorah, a holder with places for nine candles. The candles are placed and lit in a specific order each night, with an extra candle added each night. The menorah, also called a hanukkiyah, is usually placed in a window or some other place where it can be seen from the outside to demonstrate Jewish identity and pride.

The history behind the menorah comes from when the Temple in Jerusalem was restored.

According to legend, the Jews could only find a cruse (a small pot or jar) of oil for lighting the lamp. The oil was only enough to keep the lamp lit for a single day. Instead, the lamp burned for eight days until more oil was available.

Jews around the world have celebrated Hanukkah ever since. Today the festival is celebrated, not only with the lighting of the menorah, but with several other traditions.

Those traditions include a game with a wooden top called a dreidel. In the United States it is common to exchange gifts, often coins or chocolate coins.

Food is another important part of Hanukkah. In general, Jews eat a lot of fried foods during the festival as a tribute to the oil that burned in the lamp at the Temple of Jerusalem. Two examples are potato pancakes called latkes and jelly-filled doughnuts called sufganiyot.